By Denne H. Freeman

IRVING, Texas -- Joe Gibbs was worried about the Dallas Cowboys having the world champion Washington Redskins' number. They still do. It's No. 22.

Emmitt Smith ran over and around the dazed Redskins to carry the Cowboys to a 23-10 victory Monday night.

Inspired by a gift of Rolex watches before the game, his offensive linemen cleared the way for 139 yards on 26 rushes and a touchdown. It was the fifth consecutive 100yard rushing game by Smith against Washington.

Smith has scored seven touchdowns in his last five games against the Redskins.

He went into the game averaging 5.9 yards per carry against Washington.

"I don't know what it is about the Redskins," Smith said. "I've got great players around me. That's what I attribute my success to. It felt like I carried the ball 400 times. It was hot. But I guess it got too hot for the Redskins."

Gibbs said before the game "we can't seem to find a way to stop Smith. You don't like it when a team and a player has your number."

After the game, Gibbs said "You just have to say it was a heck of a job on their part. Dallas is a heck of a team. All you can do is brag on them."

Gibbs has another number he doesn't like against Dallas. He's below .500 coaching against the Cowboys, 11-12. Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson is 4-3 against Gibbs.

"We felt like we could beat Washington," Johnson said. "The team we are really worried about is the Giants in New York on Sunday. I think we will get better as time goes on."

The Redskins seemed frustrated by Smith's success because the defensive game plan was geared to target him.

"We tried to stop Emmitt but we couldn't," linebacker Andre Collins said. "But he did a really good job of cutting back. They didn't pull any tricks. He just picked up the yards and got the first downs."

Smith scored on a 5-yard run and caught three passes as Dallas dominated all three phases of the game -- offense, defense and special teams.

Issiac Holt blocked a punt for a safety and Kelvin Martin returned a punt 79 yards for a touchdown.

The Cowboys sacked Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien twice. He was sacked only nine times all of last year.

"This is a wakeup call for this team," Rypien said. "I thought we had a good game plan, but we couldn't execute it. The crowd was loud and it was tough to audible. The Dallas defense was very aggressive. This is only one of 16."

Rypien hit 20 of 38 passes for 208 yards, but was hounded all night by a Dallas rush aided by Charles Haley, obtained recently in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers. Haley had a sack.

"It was a great way to start with the Cowboys," Haley said. "We had the Redskins reeling."

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